That's a BOY shirt. That's a GIRL bag | Pointless Gendered Products

I find it freaking hilarious (but not in a HAHA way) when people say "Don't think about what they say" "Be unique" "Be you"...

BUT don't use/buy/dress/talk/walk/blink/enunciate/pronounce/show emotion outside of the prescribed stereotypical gender/sex you were born with.

Lol.

There are a lot of problems this creates for a lot of genders. But I'll let's just look at a few.

1. It reinforces the idea that there's only MALE and FEMALE. 1 or 0. The gender binary. No LGBTQ+ or anything in between. Period.

I mean yeah it's just a fucking gift card that works as well as any other gift card here, but if the kid's a boy we should definitely remind him and the world that he's a boy. So he gets the blue one with the word boy on it.

Oh 'princess', I know that the boy's section is waaay more interesting with their engineering and logic challenging toys but hey here's Hello Kitty! Plus the box is PINK!Let's get the birthday boy the green+blue laptop. Not because his favorite colour's green/blue, it's because he's a boy. Boys can't be into pink. Blue + Green is for boys. And look this box has a girl on it! A GIRL! == GIRL TOY!The superheroes you like from Avengers are WHERE?! IN THE BOY'S SECTION?! BABY PUT THAT BACK!!!!!!!!

Oh my! A small cute delicate laptop for my delicate fragile girl-fingers. And 25 functions so it's easier for girl-brains to understand! AND IT'S PINK!

2. FEMALES are 'supposed' to be this way and MALES are 'supposed' to be that way. From childbirth it stereotypes what females are and what they're supposed to like etc. in this world and what males are allowed and not allowed to be/have/like.

"In defense of the Batman shirt, some HuffPost commenters asked: “What’s wrong with wanting to be a wife?” Nothing, Wade said. The problem, she explained, is that we “live in a world that defines women by their relationships with men, but not men [by their] relationships to women. … In this context, it is reminding people what the expectations are for women, and the expectation is not just that she will be a wife, but that she’ll be somebody important’s wife, and her identity will be defined by his importance.”"

"Little girls are constantly told how pretty they are, and they learn very quickly that being pretty is important."

"Again, the message was apparent: Being smart and being pretty are mutually exclusive, but being pretty is more important if you’re a girl. Also, boys do better on their homework."

It tends to place boys and girls into "traditional" gender norms. So boys aren't supposed to be attracted to certain colours like pink and lavander, can't wear skirts, can't like flowers, makeup and cooking because those are "girl" things.

And the girls can't play with trucks, basketball, carpentry and army/navy stuff etc. because those are for "boys". We all know that these aren't true at all and it's very limiting. There are male nurses, women conductors, male chefs and women engineers. Perpetuating the above mentioned stereotypes don't help the cause and can breed sexism.

WHAT? YOU ONLY HAVE WOMEN'S FACE MASKS? NO THANKS!!! I'D RATHER INFECT PEOPLE WITH MY SICKNESS THEN DIE HORRIBLY THAN WEAR WOMEN'S FACE MASKS!!! WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME QUESTION MY SEXUALITY AND/OR GENDER?!?!

Pens! FOR HER! I've been using MAN PENS all my life. Good thing there are women pens now for my delicate little fragile woman hands. They come in woman approved colours too— Pastel!

3. They're stupid. A guitar is a guitar. Earbuds are earbuds. Pens are pens. Bags are bags. Donuts are donuts. Toys are toys.

PS. I do understand that people are generally okay with girls/women being more into "boy/guy" things but when when boys get interested even just a little with let's say makeup / certain fashion they're met with a more negative and/or violent reaction.

CJ Surita is a visual designer and writer creating the site the From Manila with Love Blog was completely happenstance...maybe. Slightly obsessed with anything from days past be it movies, tv shows, personalities or style. Loves makeup and discovering gems at the drugstore.